The finale of the hunting festival included an event where the woman who became the Lady placed a flower crown on the winner. Verheigen, seated on the imperial throne for the conclusion, had been furrowing his brow since earlier as if displeased with the preparations, but he couldn’t stop it as it was tradition.

Standing on the platform, Lysith received the flower crown from an attendant, and when she carefully placed it on Dietrich’s head as he knelt on one knee before her, applause erupted.

As she deliberately maintained an indifferent expression and let out a small sigh—whew—the man kneeling before her stood up and extended his hand to her, as if telling her to come down.

Having become accustomed to such escort during her recent visits to the Grand Duke’s residence, Lysith naturally took his hand without much hesitation and descended from the platform. And as soon as she took his hand, Dietrich’s face softened gently, causing several young ladies to doubt their eyes and then stagger—a minor incident that the two remained unaware of.

Upon reaching the ground, Lysith briefly looked at Dietrich, now a man wearing flowers, and lightly spoke.

“Congratulations. You won.”

“……Ah.”

At Lysith’s congratulations, Dietrich wore a face that suggested he had only just realized it. What? Perplexed, Lysith withdrew her hand and fixed her slightly disheveled hair.

“You said you wanted to win all along… Did you just remember that now?”

“Rather than just remembering now, it would be more accurate to say that the joy of receiving a flower crown from the lady pushed that to the back of my mind.”

……What did I just hear?

Thinking her ears might be malfunctioning, she glanced sideways at the attendant standing nearby, who also seemed to be making an effort to hide his bewilderment after hearing the same words.

“W-well then…… I’ll be going now.”

Faced with his honest and unexpected directness, Lysith quickly fled the scene. The hunting festival had ended, and she intended to return to her original seat to check the affection levels.

Having thus evaded Dietrich and returned to her seat, Lysith first directed her gaze toward Verheigen, who clearly had the highest affection level. The skill, recognizing her intention, automatically activated and displayed the system window.

[Checking affection level…….]

[Affection check complete]

The system window blinked a couple of times, then spat out a shocking result.

[Affection level calculated: 10000]

‘10000……?’

Lysith blinked blankly at a number she had never even considered.

Ten thousand? Ten thousand? How could an affection level possibly reach ten thousand? The quest condition was clearly 100!

Then naturally, the maximum affection level should also be 100…….

‘……Was I thinking wrong all along?’

Lysith’s face instantly hardened like stone.

Realizations rushed in like a waterfall.

……The system had never once told her that the maximum affection level was 100.

Hastily opening the main quest window to check, the list of male protagonists automatically appeared alongside it.

Deciding to question later why it suddenly appeared when it hadn’t before, Lysith quickly scanned the quest content again.

[Main Quest]

‘Form relationships with all four male protagonists and achieve an affection level of 100!’

Reward – Escape and return to your original world

Failure – Death

Additional condition – Clear sub quests level 10 or higher

The quest clearly only said to achieve an affection level of 100, not that it was the maximum affection level. She had never asked about that either.

Wasn’t it natural? Since the first requirement was about relationships, and the following requirement was about affection level, she naturally thought 100 was the maximum. Besides, what game would set an affection level as high as 10000!

Turning her gaze to the list of male protagonists that had appeared, Lysith’s face hardened again.

[Male Protagonist List]

—Dietrich Clonair: 10000/100

—Verheigen Waldheim Faeous: 10000/100

—Penchev Heinz: 10000/100

—Ashites Dinev: 10000/100

Having acquired the affection check skill, you can now constantly check affection levels from the list.

[The number on the left indicates the current affection level, and the number on the right indicates the affection level to be achieved.]

Without exception, all four male protagonists.

All had an affection level of 10000.

Was this good? She didn’t even have the mental capacity to consider that.

It felt like being hit on the back of the head with a frying pan.

“Urgh……”

Simultaneously, she felt nauseous, her breathing suddenly became rapid, and her vision blurred. The world spun once, and all strength drained from her body.

……And then it was a complete blackout, as if the power had been cut.

* * *

Recently, the Magic Tower should have requested a name change to Ice Tower, given the atmosphere. The reason was obvious—the Tower Master was in a bad mood.

Consequently, the tower’s mages were struggling with most approvals, whether for documents, reports, magical tool experiments, management, and so on.

“Is the lady not coming?”

“I don’t know. I just want to die.”

When the lady—no, Lady Gronevelt—was around, it felt like walking in heaven. The two mages who had just been rejected and left the office simultaneously sighed deeply.

During those heavenly days, there was once such an incident. Mages gathered in his office had submitted incorrect documents and were about to be thoroughly scolded with “Are you in your right mind?” when the office door suddenly burst open.

“Which bastard dares to barge into my office like this……”

Wondering which rookie had made such a mistake this time, the mages silently mourned for the newcomer, but they witnessed their superior’s harsh expression transform instantly upon identifying the person.

“Oh… sorry. I’ll leave.”

“No, no! You can come in. I told you, Noona, you can come anytime, right?”

The mages gaped as they watched him jump up from his seat and rush to the door, begging the person—whom he had just called a bastard—to enter. Was that aide’s gossip actually true!

“I shouldn’t come in when you’re working with others. I don’t want to disturb… it’s nothing urgent anyway. I’ll just go.”

“Noonaa……”

Eventually, yielding to his pleading, she took a seat in the office, and the atmosphere became noticeably gentler. They still got scolded for their mistake, but it was significantly less severe than usual—a truly legendary event.

“But why has he been like this lately?”

“Not sure. I think he asked us to find all materials related to gods.”

Having briefly recalled the past they already missed despite not much time passing, the two mages shook their heads and returned to their respective places.

Meanwhile, the protagonist who had just chased them out of his office, Ashites, was intensely studying various materials with furrowed brows.

Thud.

Finally, the last book he had been reading closed with a sound, and Ashites reached a conclusion.

“……”

Lysith Gronevelt before the divorce and the current Lysith Gronevelt were different people.

More precisely, their souls had been switched.

It was understandable that no one had noticed. Normally, people wouldn’t think in that direction. However, as Tower Master, he had access to far more information than others and naturally knew more.

[……Some of them would sometimes stare at the sky, or sometimes into empty space. When asked what they were looking at, they answered that they weren’t looking at anything, but it was different from simply looking somewhere…..]

After researching divine powers in detail, this was the sentence that had bothered him most. It perfectly matched Lysith’s behavior, specifically her gaze.

Though he had never asked what she was looking at, Ashites had often found her staring into empty space—mainly after s*x. It could have been dismissed as a normal post-coital daze, but it was somewhat different. It felt like she was reading something.

In truth, she had made every effort possible. She usually checked the quest window when alone, and in unavoidable situations, she would dismiss it without examining it closely to maintain a natural appearance.

What Lysith had failed to anticipate, however, was the perceptiveness and weight of affection from the men watching her.

“A soul from another place.”

It wasn’t a common case. Among the records he found, only one instance from several hundred years ago had been confirmed. But the moment he saw that record, Ashites was certain.

After this realization, looking again, the Lysith from several years ago whom he had investigated and the Lysith he knew were definitely different people.

“If that’s the case……”

If it was a soul from another place, couldn’t it return there at any time? For example, with divine help. He had not the slightest intention of standing by and watching this happen.

Then what should he do to prevent this unfortunate event?

Flinging the book he was holding among the papers, Ashites immediately stood up from his seat and strode out of his office.

For other matters, he would have managed alone, but this was not something he could handle by himself. He never thought he would be the one to reach out first to that man who he believed would never request help in his entire life.

But…….

What choice did he have? What he knew was too significant to let pride stand in the way, and this was something only that man could help with.

Above all, what he was trying to hold onto was the only being to whom he would ever yield.